The Responsible Decider

On one of the feedback sheets I collect after each training I once read the note of a participant who asked for special advice of how to take RESPONSIBLE decisions.

Responsibility includes a huge part of dutyful activities. Somebody could claim a result.
Without a fix VALUE SYSTEM, deciding won´t work at all! On top, value leads the WILL to decide. Therefore, responsible people have and know their personal value system, which is (should be) connected and in line to the Law (risk relevant!). The responsible decider also has a strong will. It´s the will that acts positively upon the consequences!

Now stop reading and think it over – recall some of your past decisions in life, and now check yourself:
do you agree? Do you recognize and recall your strong will? And your active value system? Is it still the same today?

This is just one part of the abstract decider-story! An observer can´t see the (strong) will of a person nor the values she or he represents. That´s some kind of “human imprint” we carry inside of us. We can talk about it thou´and include this information in a profound conversation with someone.

The second part of the story of a responsible decider is the ROLE the person plays in the moment life asks for a decision to make. It´s important to recognize and understand the role to make sure the decision result is helpful for the problem solving. Your roles can be: Head or relevant part of the family, CEO of the company, Key Account, Sports-Trainer of a team, Director, Buddy to your inner circle, Friend and Lover. Did I miss to mention another important role? Feel free to add it –

What else is relevant to make responsible decisions? A SITUATION.
Next we need a situation, mostly tied to a problem which asks us to play this role. With the role we turn to our personal value- or the official Law system before we start going-on with preparing the rational decision process.

Let me wrap it up for you:
to become and be a responsible decider, we need a strong WILL, a personal VALUE-system, rely to the LAW (risk relevant!) and we shall recognize the ROLE we play in this SITUATION.

Taking smart decisions as a responsible decider asks us to check it all out well!
There´s no sport and no device which runs automatically without any accident after only starting or pushing the “ON” button. Even when we cook a meal we have to take care of a few things first (shop ingredients, check the recipe) and everything that follows is acting within a tested and well-known process before we can change a current result for the better. So, why don´t we do it when making the next decision?